October 6 2020
Below please find several important updates related to our August 12 and September 28 News Flashes.  
No New USCIS Fees, Forms or Premium Processing Clock… Yet
Last week, a federal judge issued a nationwide preliminary injunction blocking USCIS from implementing the new fee schedule, which was to go into effect on October 2. This means that: 

  • The current fee structure remains in place;
  • Current versions of the I-129 and I-765 forms remain valid for use; 
  • The premium processing clock is still 15 calendar days. 

We do not know how long the preliminary injunction will remain in effect; a federal appeals court could lift the injunction at any time, allowing USCIS to implement the changes. We will let you know if that happens. Until then, we will continue to process cases using the existing forms and fee structure. 
Congressional Changes to Premium Processing
As part of the stopgap spending measure signed into law last week, Congress made significant changes to the premium processing program, including: 

  • Permanently expanding premium processing to include EADs, certain change and extension of status applications via Form I-539, and I-140 petitions for Multinational Managers/Executives and National Interest Waivers, and allows DHS to expand the service to other benefit requests in the future. 

  • Increasing the standard premium processing fee to $2,500 for case types which were previously eligible, and retaining the current processing time of 15 days.
 
  • Instructing USCIS to establish new premium processing filing fees for the other benefit types through regulation; the law sets the filing fee at a maximum of $1,500 for EADs (30-day processing time), $1,750 for change / extension of status applications (30-day processing time), and $2,500 for the newly-eligible I-140 case types (45-day processing time).  

Please note that, while the law took effect immediately, it could take several weeks or more for USCIS to implement these changes. Until then, premium processing will continue as it has.  
Please reach out to us with case-specific questions so that we can advise accordingly.
Sincerely,
Rhonda Tietjen & Heidi Snyder
Partners, RSST Law Group